WASHINGTON - Illicit drug use by teens continued to gradually decline overall this year, but the use of prescription painkillers remains popular among young people, according to a federally financed study released Tuesday at the White House.

NEW YORK - Wall Street plunged Tuesday after the Federal Reserve lowered its benchmark interest rate by 0.25 percent, disappointing some investors who hoped the central bank would take more aggressive measures. The Dow Jones industrial average, which had been up about 40 points before the decision, fell 300 points.

WASHINGTON - The CIA's waterboarding of a top al-Qaida figure was approved at the top levels of the U.S. government, a former CIA agent said Tuesday as Congress grilled agency director Gen. Michael Hayden about the destruction of videotapes of terror suspect interrogations.

DES MOI - A thick glaze of ice brought down power lines and cut electricity to close to a million homes and businesses, closed schools and canceled flights Tuesday as a major storm blasted the nation's midsection.

DENVER (AP) - A 20-year-old law student has become a cause celebre in the anti-abortion movement for her efforts to have the state Constitution define fertilized eggs as people - a tactic spreading nationwide in bids to neutralize the Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion.

WASHINGTON - In a break with President Bush, the top Republican in the House endorsed $7.4 billion in new emergency spending, even as he vowed to stick with the White House's demands to hew to the president's budget limits for domestic programs.

WASHINGTON - The Federal Reserve cut a key interest rate by one-quarter of a percentage point Tuesday, but Wall Street took a tumble. Investors were disappointed that the central bank did not act more boldly to keep the country out of a recession.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) - Hundreds of thousands of holiday cards and letters thanking wounded American troops for their sacrifice and wishing them well never reach their destination. They are returned to sender or thrown away unopened.